Socialising rural space in North Korea: settlement planning, housing, and service networks

Abstract

During the period beginning with the Korean War ceasefire in 1953 until the end of the 1960s, the North Korean regime attempted to socialise the countryside, creating model villages to transform rural space. An analysis of the model villages and housing reveals that rural policy in North Korea passed through three major changes. First, the North Korean regime finished implementing land nationalisation and cooperativisation by 1958, which led to an enormous change in the rural landscape. Second, after a visit to Chongsan-Ri in 1960, Kim Il-Sung suggested a new model that mixed urban housing and service networks with rural living spaces. Finally, in 1964, Kim Il-Sung announced the Rural Theses, which emphasised the role of the 'county' (gun) in rural transformation, positioning the county seat as the model of urbanised countryside society. However, North Korea's continuous efforts to urbanise the countryside were frustrated by reality, except for certain model village cases. As a result, North Korea's actual rural living spaces stood in stark contrast to these ideal models.